Prior to establishing communication with a communication network, a wireless device identifies an access node and attempts to initiate communication with the access node. Where the wireless device can detect more than one access node, typically the wireless device identifies and selects the access node with the strongest signal level. Lacking any further information about the selected access node, the wireless device can send a request to initiate communication with the access node. When the selected access node is heavily loaded, the access node may reject the initial communication request, forcing the wireless device to identify another access node and attempt to initiate communication with the next access node. This can cause delay in establishing network communication, and can also waste battery power of the wireless device.